Poetic justice… The entire stadium was roaring against the visiting team, only to be silenced moments later. While facing a hostile crowd is nothing new in MLB, sometimes that hostility goes beyond the foul lines. That’s exactly what’s happening in Game 3 between the Yankees and Blue Jays.

Coming into the game down 0-2, Yankees fans didn’t even wait for the first pitch before unleashing boos at Toronto, even during “O Canada.” They were determined to make Yankee Stadium as hostile as possible in this do-or-die matchup.

“Fans at Yankee Stadium boo the Canadian national anthem,” Newsday’s Anthony Rieber shared.

But it didn’t take long for that energy to backfire.

Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped up and crushed his third homer of the series in the top of the first, giving Toronto an early 2-0 lead. And just like that, the once-hostile Bronx crowd went from deafening to dead silent.

But it seems like we are still far away from a closing case.

Just when we thought that the Blue Jays had already secured the game, the Yankees made a strong comeback. Catapulted by Aaron Judge’s homer and Austin Wells, Cody Bellinger, and Trent Grisham’s run fest, the Yankees finished 9-6 against the Blue Jays.

And guess what, fans booing the national anthem is in stark contrast to how the Yankees were treated in Rogers Centre.

The first two games of the ALDS saw nearly 45,000 fans at the Toronto stadium standing quietly for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The crowd then erupted in cheers as the final notes rang out. The boos came way later on Sunday, right after Guerrero crushed a grand slam. But before that, the American anthem got the kind of respect you’d expect in a church.

The Yankees-Blue Jays rivalry is unlike anything this year

Since the Opening day, the Yankees-Blue Jays rivalry has gone a notch higher. Starting from the Jays’ sweeping series against the Yankees, to broadcasters from both camps undermining each other, the rivalry witnessed everything.

The Blue Jays “are not a first-place team” and were “not playing great baseball.” Yankees’ broadcaster Michael Kay took a dig at the Blue Jays back in July. Then Jays’ broadcaster Buck Martinez offered a rebuttal.

“You know, the Yankees, they’re not a good team. I don’t care what their record is.”

So, the duel was just at the boiling point before the ALDS, and now it is at its peak.

The rivalry heated up even more when both the Yankees and Blue Jays decided to limit ticket sales to their own fans for the ALDS games. According to reports, Ticketmaster showed a message saying that Yankees’ ticket sales would be based on the buyer’s credit card billing address. And any purchases from outside the approved regions would be canceled and refunded.

The Blue Jays have been doing something similar, restricting Rogers Centre ticket sales to people with Canadian billing addresses, a policy that started during the regular season and is continuing into the playoffs.

So, amidst all these, Yankees fans booing the Canadian national anthem was just another sign of how intense this Yankees-Blue Jays rivalry has become this year.